The ethical weight of aviation innovation rests partly on what remains required when new capability is authorized. FAA's December 13, 2016 flight-vision rule permits eligible EFVS use below the earlier 100-foot boundary through touchdown and rollout on certain straight-in instrument approaches. Alongside that expansion, it preserves the importance of preparation and additional aircraft safeguards. [2016-28714][2013-13454]

One decision gives the principle a practical form. The final discussion refuses proposed proficiency checks as substitutes for initial ground and flight training or supplemental EFVS training. FAA's reasoning is that a pilot must learn the tasks before being checked on them. Testing and teaching serve related but different purposes; calling them interchangeable would misdescribe the agency's adopted approach. [2016-28714][2013-13454]

The June 11, 2013 proposal had proposed training, recent flight experience and proficiency requirements, rather than already imposing them. Comparing that proposal with the final decision shows why safeguards cannot be inferred from an earlier summary alone. Both documents belong to the same FAA proceeding, not separate proof that passengers have become safer. No accident-reduction result is established here. [2016-28714][2013-13454]

The final rule also requires additional airworthiness safeguards for touchdown-and-rollout aircraft and confines the authorization to eligible operations. Its original general effective date is March 13, 2017, with specified amendments effective March 13, 2018. Respect for passengers and crews means describing those limits without turning FAA's efficiency and access objectives into guarantees. The historical lesson is accountability through preparation, not a moral endorsement of every implementation or guidance for conducting a flight. [2016-28714][2013-13454]

Source documents

  1. Revisions to Operational Requirements for the Use of Enhanced Flight Vision Systems (EFVS) and to Pilot Compartment View Requirements for Vision Systemshttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-12-13/html/2016-28714.htm
  2. Revisions to Operational Requirements for the Use of Enhanced Flight Vision Systems (EFVS) and to Pilot Compartment View Requirements for Vision Systemshttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2013-06-11/html/2013-13454.htm